January 03, 2011

Carol Moseley Braun's tax dodge

She's a veteran politician with experience in local government, national government and the international arena. So you'd expect Carol Moseley Braun to be prepared with a plausible response when asked why she won't release her tax returns before the Feb. 22 mayoral election. Instead, we got the sort of answer you'd expect from a second-grader: "Because I don't want to."

I'd like to find some redeeming qualities in Braun, who has a fighting chance to be the next mayor. But this episode suggests, as her past conduct often has, that she just isn't ready for prime time. Both Rahm Emanuel and Gerry Chico have released their returns. For her to refuse suggests arrogance. For her to give such a cavalier explanation confirms it.

Braun had a good name when she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, but her single term produced few achievements and she lost to a comparative unknown, Republican Peter Fitzgerald, in her re-election bid. On the way, she mired herself in scandal and had to apologize for calling George Will a racist merely because he criticized her unsavory associations. Somehow, though, she managed to persuade herself to run for president in 2004.

Braun has long been known for an oversized ego, a sense of entitlement and a disregard for the usual ethical obligations. It looks like she has no intention of changing now.

Comments

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What I want to know is how it was decided that CMB would be the survivor? A month ago, she seemed the weakest of the three (Meeks and Davis being the others). For the conspiracy-minded, this is more evidence of shenanigans to ease Rahm's path.

In complete agreement. Braun is the "been there, done that" candidate - I for one have no interest in sitting through a re-run of her self-serving shenanigans and over-inflated sense of self-importance.

braun is a no-nothing political hack whose principal argument is "vote for me because i'm black" which is as viable as voting for emanuel because he is white or voting for chico because he is latino. braun would be a diaster for this city---a fact which should be obvious to all chicago voters regardless of their backrounds.

She obviously doesn't want people to know what she did with the money she nefariously transferred from her mother before she got Medicade to pay for her mother's nursing home instead of using her mother's own money to pay for her own medical care.

She would have been in the U.S. Senate for life had her mismanagement not led to so many dirty puddles. Many voters in Illinois still resent the wasted opportunity they gave to the "lady with a smile" who it seems had little else to offer.

Don't worry about CMB's returns. They will only show that she is an idiot and cannot manage her own finances, much less those of a major city. She is not going to win. She is the Sarah Palin of Chicago politics. Rahm will win, and we'll all still be screwed, no matter who wins.

Ya know, if the Republicans would just give up a little ideological purity and run an actual candidate that connects with the people, they actually have a chance here. But god forbid they run a candidate that supports gay marriage or choice. More important to stay pure than actually win elections in Chicago. Everyone's a loser folks.

She does come across as a spoiled brat, and her eagerness to throw around the race card essentially disqualifies her from running a city with such a large mix of racial constituents. Whoever pushed for CMB to emerge as the "consensus" candidate did Chicagoan Black voters a huge disservice. I can still hope that Chico runs an efficient campaign in order to save us from the back-door politicking of Rahm.

Carol Moseley Braun was one of the worst senators in history and would likely be one of the worst mayors Chicago has seen. She attracted white voters when she ran for the Senate, but hopefully any of those who live in Chicago learned their lesson based on her awful performance. Her response about disclosing her tax statement would be laughable if she weren't running for an important office. What a sham.

Be careful about what you say. You might find yourself on the receiving end of a CMB cry fest. CMB's response will include you being called a racist for insulting the entire African-American community, and a demand that you be fired for doing your job. Just a warning.

The line from Rounders is appropriate for Rev. Meeks right now:
"Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker. "

I've lived in Chicago for 10 years and only heard positive things about Meeks a man who seemed to have ideas all of which I might not agree with but ideas none the less.. Whereas Mosely-Braun is viewed as a joke and Davis as a do-nothing. FWIW Davis has been my representative for all these ten years and I've only ever received two items from his office touting what he has done.
Like Chris, the cynic in me thinks that the black business leaders who pushed for Braun were given assurances from Rahm's camp that they would be taken care of.

How on earth do you get racism out of this article? Her statement was a bad joke. "Because I don't want to." It doesn't matter if she's white, black, hispanic, native american, inuit, eskimo or anything else, that's the not the answer a serious candidate for mayor of a city of 3+ million gives. That's the answer my 3 1/2 year old daughter gives right before we tell her she has to give a better reason. Race isn't involved in any ways. The only flames of racism I'm seeing is the opportunistic cries of racism by you trying to bring race into a discussion on the merits.

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I’m a columnist and editorial writer with strong opinions about a wide range of issues, and this blog lets me address many of them. What readers can find here is an independent, libertarian perspective beholden to no party, candidate or dogma. Whatever your political outlook, I think you’ll find things to agree with—and things to disagree with. About Steve Chapman